From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #777 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, December 29 2003 Volume 06 : Number 777 In this issue: The firearms had been registered, so the cops found out to whom the 30-month sentence on driving, firearm and threatening charges Gang member 'executed' 8 days after jury frees him in murder case Column: Slaying seems to sneer at justice ETOBICOKE SHOOTING PAYBACK? Toronto police cite gang links in two homicides "Canada is No. 1 when it comes to giving the shortest sentences to ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 10:33:53 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: The firearms had been registered, so the cops found out to whom the PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun DATE: 2003.12.26 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 25 BYLINE: RAQUEL EXNER, EDMONTON SUN - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CITY CROOKS PLAY SCROOGE STOLEN CAR, RIFLES FOUND; FRAUD BUSTED - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The only stockings these bad guys pull out of the closet at yuletide are the kind useful during robberies. Edmonton's criminal element didn't ease up this holiday season and kept city cops busy. Police recovered a stolen car and four stolen hunting rifles, wrapped up a fraud probe, and investigated a motel beating. "Even though to the majority of people it's a festive time of year, some individuals get involved in criminal activity and it doesn't matter to them what time of year it is," said Edmonton police spokesman Sgt. Chris Hayden. "They continue to do what they do." Two patrol constables pulled over a stolen 2000 Intrepid at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near Hewes Way and 23 Avenue. Mark Kane, 39, was charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000, possession of stolen property under $5,000, and driving while suspended. He was also wanted on several outstanding criminal warrants. Some time on Wednesday, officers charged two men after recovering four stolen guns. This week a local man tried to register four non-restricted hunting rifles he had bought, but he quickly found out the guns had been stolen. The firearms had been registered, so the cops found out to whom the guns belonged. A followup investigation revealed the guns had been taken from an Edmonton home earlier this year. Cops later arrested two men. Ray Ream, 62, and Pablo Lickert-Lopez, 36, have each been charged with trafficking in firearms and possession of property obtained by crime. The officers who worked on the case are with the Edmonton branch of the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team. In a different matter, police charged an Edmonton man with fraud after he allegedly posed as a pilot and bilked a woman out of $1,500 after promising her free flights and other seemingly great deals. Back on Aug. 30, a 41-year-old woman met a man through a telephone dating service. They spoke several times and agreed to meet in person in September, say police. The man allegedly told the woman he was a pilot and managed to scam money from her. Lonnie Marvin Frost, 58, of Edmonton, has been charged with fraud under $5,000 and failure to comply with a probation order. The day before Christmas Eve, cops were called out to the Road Runner Motel at 6622 104 St. after two men went into a suite and beat a man with a metal object. The victim was beaten on the head, his feet, and hands, but suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Two others in the suite weren't hurt in the attack. Police say the victim isn't co-operating, so they have no suspect descriptions. Officers noted the assault wasn't random. - ---------------------------------------------------------- THE RCMP HAVE HAVE REGISTERED 4,438 STOLEN FIREARMS (SO FAR)! . http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/RCMP-ATIStolenGunsRegistered- 2003-09-11.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 10:36:13 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: 30-month sentence on driving, firearm and threatening charges PUBLICATION: The Leader-Post (Regina) DATE: 2003.12.26 EDITION: Final SECTION: City & Province PAGE: B2 BYLINE: Barb Pacholik SOURCE: Leader-Post - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regina man sentenced on driving, firearm and threatening charges - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Regina man with a volatile temper who once threatened to shoot a Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) employee and was caught with a loaded gun broke into tears in a courtroom Wednesday. "I've got no fight left in me," Kevin Darrell Wolbaum said. The 39-year-old sporting a back brace was sentenced to two years less a day in jail after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, threatening, two firearms charges, and two counts of breaching court orders. With pre-trial custody, it's the equivalent of a 30-month sentence. "These charges are very scary," Regina Provincial Court Judge Clifford Toth said, adding the threat made to the woman working for WCB was "particularly offensive." "You frightened this woman ... nearly to death," said the judge, who also took note of the "road rage" incident and possession of a loaded, sawed-off shotgun. "Your volatility level is so high." In 1996, Wolbaum was sentenced to five years in prison for running a major chop-shop operation that cut up stolen cars for parts. According to a Leader-Post article written at the time, Wolbaum told the court he turned to crime to support a severe gambling habit. Wolbaum said he turned his life around after getting out of prison in 1998. He became a professional driver, earned $48,000 a year, had gotten his family off welfare and bought a new house. "I was proud of keeping my nose clean," he said. However, his life started to unravel after he severely injured his back on the job in July 2000. Now he's lost his family and his house. He also believes authorities have it in for him. "Someone's been playing games with me, and I haven't been a very good participant," he said. Wolbaum broke down crying as he spoke of his frustration at waiting for surgery and being cut off from WCB. He said he was given a morphine patch to deal with the pain, and that was taken away and replaced by painkillers when he was arrested. On Sept. 28 Wolbaum stopped a police officer attending to another call and told him he had a gun he wanted to turn in. Crown prosecutor Connie Hottinger said Wolbaum told police the sawed-off shotgun was cocked, loaded, and "ready to go." And that's exactly the state in which they found it inside a saddlebag on his bicycle. Wolbaum told police he needed it for protection from his enemies. A month earlier, Wolbaum, who had a history of being difficult with WCB staff, told a worker "he would shoot her," Hottinger said. "She's very fearful for her safety." The woman has since changed her name. On May 10, an off-duty police officer arrested Wolbaum after he deliberately steered his truck into the path of the officer's car. "It was apparent Mr. Wolbaum had road rage," said Hottinger. Wolbaum told Toth people had been "driving at him" so he reacted as he did. Calling for a prison term, Hottinger noted he has a lengthy record that includes previous convictions for violence. Wolbaum replied, "Yeah, I have a past. I'm not proud of it." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 10:38:24 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Gang member 'executed' 8 days after jury frees him in murder case PUBLICATION: The Hamilton Spectator DATE: 2003.12.29 SECTION: News PAGE: A01 SOURCE: The Hamilton Spectator BYLINE: Josh Brown DATELINE: 1 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acquitted Man Shot Dead in T.O.; Gang member 'executed' 8 days after jury frees him in murder case - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A 21-year-old member of a Toronto street gang was shot dead execution style in broad daylight Saturday, just eight days after he was acquitted for the second-degree murder of a Hamilton man. Toronto police said Adrian Roy Baptiste was riding in a car with friends in a parking lot of a townhouse complex on Lightwood Drive in Rexdale when a hooded man wielding a pistol leaned into the car and shot several rounds. Baptiste died at Sunnybrook hospital after undergoing emergency surgery. He was Toronto's 64th homicide of the year. "It was absolutely a planned homicide," said Toronto police Superintendent Ron Taverner. "We do know that it was a planned execution." Taverner confirmed that Baptiste is a member of the Blood street gang and that he was under investigation for serious crimes at the time of his murder. He added that Toronto police were in Hamilton yesterday to see if there is a possible tie here. Baptiste and Jahmar Reuben Welsh, of Toronto, walked out of a Hamilton court room free men Dec. 19 after a jury found them not guilty of second degree murder in the killing of Desmon Mingo. The pair were also acquitted on charges of using a firearm to rob Mingo and another Hamilton man, Chris Bikker, during a counterfeit-for-cash deal Feb. 19, 2002. Taverner would not comment on whether he thought Welsh should fear for his life. "There's always a concern for everyone but again we don't know the motive for the shooting," he said. "Whether this is a revenge killing or whether there's another motive, obviously right now we don't know." Taverner described the murder as part of a gang subculture. "We're talking here about people who have been involved with the police in the past," he said. "... People who are involved with drugs, gangs and guns." Hamilton police Detective Mike Thomas confirmed that Toronto investigators had inquired about Baptiste yesterday but said city police were not involved in the investigation. Desmon Mingo died from a bullet through the heart in a Sherman Avenue apartment after a counterfeit deal erupted in gunfire. Prosecution lawyers argued that Baptiste and Welsh came to Hamilton to rob Mingo. The defence insisted it was the other way around. "My sympathies go out to his mother and his family," said Gwen Mingo, Desmon's grandmother. "As mothers we bring sons into this world and hope for the best. "Adrian lived the life. They say 'so how you live, so how you die.' I feel for the family but I have mixed feelings about Adrian." Mingo said she went to visit her grandson's grave on Christmas Day and found a sympathy card with a message scrawled inside. "It said 'Yo Desmon, we beat the rap. You sucker.'" The card has since been collected by police in Hamilton. She added that the entire family is still "devastated" about her grandson's killing and the outcome of the trial. jbrown@thespec.com 905-526-4620 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 10:41:47 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: Slaying seems to sneer at justice PUBLICATION GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: MON DEC.29,2003 PAGE: A1 BYLINE: CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD CLASS: Toronto News EDITION: Metro DATELINE: WORDS: 1064 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slaying seems to sneer at justice - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The brazen tit-for-tat gunfire that erupted before on Toronto streets now seems to be directly aimed at the criminal justice system itself. Although Toronto police have dealt with retaliatory killings among various gang members in recent years, the bold Saturday-afternoon execution of a young man named Adrian Roy Baptiste appears to be linked to a recent verdict by a Hamilton court that acquitted him and a co-accused of second-degree murder. Mr. Baptiste, who turned 21 just nine days ago, was one of several young men in a car parked in the lot adjacent to a busy north Etobicoke townhouse complex when gunfire rang out about 3 o'clock on the sunny, unseasonably warm holiday afternoon. He was what Toronto Police Superintendent Ron Taverner yesterday called "the obvious target of a planned homicide" and was not only the sole person hit in the attack but was struck by at least five bullets. Just 10 days ago, a jury found Mr. Baptiste and Jahmar Reuben Welsh, 21, not guilty in the Feb. 19, 2002, shooting death of Desmon Mingo. Mr. Mingo, who was just 20, took a shot to the heart when a counterfeit-for-cash deal went awry. The jurors, in acquitting the pair after a two-month-long trial, clearly accepted that Mr. Baptiste had pulled a gun in self-defence only after Mr. Mingo had opened fire at Mr. Welsh, and that he had fired it accidentally in the violent struggle that followed, during which Mr. Baptiste himself was shot in the leg. "Right at this minute, it's hard to say for sure if it's a result of that particular verdict," Supt. Ron Taverner told The Globe and Mail yesterday, "but it looks like it." Complicating the case is the fact that Mr. Baptiste was allegedly a member of the Bloods gang which operates in the Rexdale area and whose traditional rivals, the Crips, have been involved in numerous fatal shootings over the years, and that others may have wanted him dead for reasons not related to the trial. "But the investigators have already been to Hamilton," Supt. Taverner said, "and they're taking the possibility [that the shooting was in reaction to the acquittal] very, very seriously. "And if this is what it is, it's certainly ramping things up a notch. "Whether we like a verdict or not, that's the system and we have to respect it." Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, while cautioning that police have not ascertained the motive behind Mr. Baptiste's killing, said yesterday that "if this is, in fact, what happened, it's a clear indication" that the courts are no longer immune to what he called "the law of the jungle," and "that's of very grave concern to me." Even David Bayliss, the Toronto criminal lawyer who represented Mr. Baptiste at the Hamilton trial, was operating yesterday on the assumption that the killing may have been a particularly crude brand of street justice. "I don't know if this was retaliation," he told The Globe in a telephone interview, adding, "It isn't much of a reach" to characterize Mr. Baptiste's death that way, given that "he was the only one who was shot, and he was shot five times. And if it was that, it was particularly senseless," Mr. Bayliss said -- a cold-blooded execution to respond to what was "essentially an accident," the shooting of Mr. Mingo. Mr. Bayliss described Mr. Baptiste as "one of the brightest clients I've ever had," and said they had discussed him trying to turn his life around, perhaps even with a career in law enforcement - a field that because he had only a youth record, not an adult one, he would not have been precluded from entering. Born in Edmonton and one of 13 children, Mr. Baptiste "grew up in bad neighbourhoods and got into the sorts of trouble that kids in bad neighbourhoods get into. But basically, he was a smart kid, and I think there was a core of goodness there." Mr. Baptiste, who like Mr. Welsh spent almost two years in custody awaiting the just-ended trial, had tasted freedom for little more than a week when he was slain. "I saw him free for half an hour after the acquittal," Mr. Bayliss said sorrowfully yesterday. "I kind of wondered then if that was the last time I was going to see him" because despite their recent conversations about Mr. Baptiste wanting to pursue a new life, the young man moved in a dangerous world. "It's extremely sad." Fatally wounded, Mr. Baptiste was dropped off, presumably by his companions in the car, at the Humber River Hospital, and later transferred to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where he underwent emergency surgery, only to succumb to his injuries. He took several shots to the chest, as well as to the extremities. The only description police have of a suspect is of a young black man, in his late teens or early 20s, wearing dark clothing with a hood and apparently moving on foot. Though the shooting occurred in midafternoon and the area was busy, Supt. Taverner said police are having only "limited success" with potential witnesses, whom he described as frankly intimidated by the gunfire and gang activity so common to the neighbourhood. Supt. Taverner runs 23 Division, home to Jamestown, a narrow sliver of Rexdale, which has been home to such rampant gunplay, chiefly among various crews of the Crips gang but occasionally directed against the rival Bloods, that in one particularly vicious period of less than a year no fewer than nine young men were killed by the gun. The violence is so pervasive and so bold that homicide detectives routinely find few co-operative witnesses. At the trial last year of Leon Boswell, convicted in the June 15, 2001, murder of Wayne Reid, the presiding judge, Mr. Justice David McCombs, clearly was shaken when one weeping witness told the court that she had been threatened and told to keep her mouth shut and was too frightened to testify. But never before has it appeared so plain that there is a subculture whose members are utterly contemptuous not only of the police, who purport to solve murders, but also of the courts, which attempt to try these cases fairly. cblatchford@globeandmail.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:03:03 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: ETOBICOKE SHOOTING PAYBACK? PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2003.12.29 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 40 ILLUSTRATION: photo of ADRIAN ROY BAPTISTE Gunned down BYLINE: ROB LAMBERTI, TORONTO SUN - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ETOBICOKE SHOOTING PAYBACK? ACQUITTED MAN EXECUTED - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A man who was acquitted of murder 10 days ago in the 2002 slaying of a Hamilton man was executed as he sat in a car with friends on the weekend in a north Etobicoke housing complex parking lot. The body of Adrian Roy Baptiste, 21, of Brampton, was riddled with bullets by a gunman or gunmen who walked up to the car parked on Lightwood Dr., in the Kipling Ave.-Albion Rd. area, around 3 p.m. Saturday. Baptiste, a member of the Bloods street gang, was targeted, said Supt. Ron Taverner of 23 Division. Although homicide detectives don't know the motive, revenge over his acquittal in the February 2002 shooting death of a Hamilton man hasn't been ruled out. Baptiste and friend Jahmar Reuben (Teddy) Welsh, 21, who were both charged with second-degree murder, were freed Dec. 19 by a Hamilton jury which believed they were defending themselves when Desmon Mingo was killed on Feb. 19, 2002. COUNTERFEIT CASH Baptiste and Welsh were trying to sell $2,500 in counterfeit money for $1,000 to Mingo and Chris Bikker. But court heard Mingo and Bikker had instead tried to rob Baptiste and Welsh when they met in a basement apartment in Hamilton. The Superior Court jury heard that Mingo pulled out a handgun and, as the battle continued outside the Sherman Ave. N. apartment, Mingo suffered a fatal .45-calibre bullet wound to the heart. MOTIVE UNCERTAIN Homicide Det.-Sgt. Bob Wilkinson and Det. Greg Groves went to Hamilton yesterday, but Taverner said there could be other motives, such as gang conflict. "Whether this is a revenge killing or whether there's another motive, obviously right now, we don't know," he said. "It was a planned execution, if you will," said Taverner, adding Baptiste had an extensive criminal record and was being investigated in a number of undisclosed "serious criminal offences." Baptiste died at Sunnybrook hospital after emergency surgery. Police said witnesses described the killer as black, in his late teens or early 20s, wearing dark clothing with a hood. "But we need some more significant help than that," Taverner said. "We need people to call and help us make a difference." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:05:40 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Toronto police cite gang links in two homicides PUBLICATION: The Record (Waterloo Region) DATE: 2003.12.29 SECTION: Front PAGE: A8 SOURCE: Toronto Star DATELINE: TORONTO - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toronto police cite gang links in two homicides - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toronto police are reeling after three unrelated homicides this weekend. Two of the slayings were gang-related, according to police, and Supt. Ron Taverner said some youth appear to have false, romantic ideas about drugs, guns and gangs. "This isn't glamourous and this isn't Hollywood," Taverner said. "It's very sad." In the third weekend murder, the body of a 19-year-old woman was found in a conservation area shortly after noon yesterday. She was reported missing two days before Christmas. A man who had a relationship with the victim was taken into custody by police yesterday, shortly before the body was found. She was Toronto's 65th homicide victim of 2003. Just last month, there were also three murders in one weekend in Toronto. Meanwhile, Toronto detectives spoke with Hamilton police yesterday after a 21-year-old member of the Rexdale Bloods street gang was shot dead in a parking lot in Rexdale Saturday -- just eight days after he was acquitted of second-degree murder in Hamilton. Police said that the third weekend homicide victim, Walter Trevor "Bling" Stewart, 28, was a known drug dealer. Stewart was hit with several gunshots when a gunman sprayed a mid-town high-rise neighbourhood with bullets around 4:50 a.m. Saturday. In the Rexdale murder, Adrian Roy Baptiste, 21, of Brampton, was shot several times by a hooded man with a pistol who leaned into the car in which Baptiste was riding behind a townhouse complex around 3 p.m. Saturday. "It was absolutely a planned homicide," Taverner said. "We do know that it was a planned execution." Baptiste's death came just eight days after he was released from custody in Hamilton after he and Jahmar Reuben Welsh, 21, were acquitted of second-degree murder after being charged with fatally shooting Desmon Mingo of Hamilton through the heart on Feb. 19, 2002. Taverner wouldn't comment yesterday on whether he thought Welsh should also fear for his life. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:06:56 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: "Canada is No. 1 when it comes to giving the shortest sentences to criminals." From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2003.12.29 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 29 BYLINE: KEVIN CONNOR, TORONTO SUN - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CITY URGED TO BACK COPS ADVOCATE SAYS FANTINO'S RIGHT - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Torontonians need to get behind their top cop and force Ottawa to overhaul the justice system so gangsters aren't running the city, a victims' advocate says. Joe Wamback, of the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation, backed claims by Police Chief Julian Fantino that too often police arrest career criminals only to find them back on the streets. "It seems judges are in competition to give the lightest sentence. There is no consequence for violent crime, so there is no justice," Wamback said. "Justice statistics from 65 countries show Canada is No. 1 when it comes to giving the shortest sentences to criminals." In November, Fantino asked Ottawa to review the justice system but says he has had no reply. Police need more help to keep thugs behind bars and off the streets, Fantino said after the recent rash of gang shootings. "I'm 110% behind the chief," said Wamback, whose son Jonathan was badly beaten and nearly died in 1999. "Police need assistance keeping these horrific psychopaths from being released." Fantino says cops will host a summit in the new year with community leaders in the hopes of winning new allies in their war on gangs, guns and drugs. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #777 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:moderator@hitchen.org List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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